Category: Cultural heritage

Great Exhibition road festival – Science and Engineering for Cultural Heritage

The Great Exhibition Road Festival is Imperial’s largest public engagement event of the year. Taking place over a full weekend, Imperial runs the festival together with the local museums (V&A, Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Royal College of Music and Royal Albert Hall). Great exhibition road is closed to traffic and becomes full of people. Visitors from all ages and backgrounds engage in diverse activities featuring science and the arts during the celebrations. Over 54,000 people pre-registered for this year’s event!

Exhibition road, closed to traffic and open to people for the Great Exhibition Road Festival. Image credit: David Guttridge.
Exhibition road, closed to traffic and open to people for the Great Exhibition Road Festival. Image credit: David Guttridge.

Imperial researchers spent the weekend running their stands and answering questions from the curious attendees. Georgia Millsom, a PhD student in the Department of Materials, wrote a blog about her experience volunteering at the event.

The Science and Engineering Research for Cultural Heritage Network (SERCH) ran an exhibit at the Great Exhibition Road Festival back in mid-June. Ranging from Mechanical Engineering to Materials, a variety of Imperial’s departments were present with the aim of demonstrating the connections Imperial has to Cultural Heritage. Visitors were also able to delve into a range of objects from the Imperial College Archives.  Many hadn’t considered Imperial’s own heritage before as it is a newer university than Oxford, Cambridge, and St Andrews. The teaching aids were hugely popular, with visitors guessing about their uses.

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Conservation of materials in a changing world

How can we prevent damage to old objects when the environment around them is changing? Imperial College London and the Victoria and Albert Museum are collaborating to solve new questions in the conservation of materials.

On 7 September, the Science and Engineering Research for Cultural Heritage network organised a collaborative workshop with the conservation team at the V&A. The goal was to brainstorm areas where Imperial scientists and engineers could collaborate with museum conservators and scientists, in order to solve problems in conserving cultural heritage objects.

A handheld XRF analyser is pointed at a shallow cream and blue bowl.
Roman glass being analysed by a handheld XRF analyser. XRF identifies elemental composition, which is essential for conservation of materials. ©V&A

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Moss balls and marbling

Imperial College London is committed to sharing the wonder and excitement of the science that we do. So it is part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival every June, a two-day science and art party for all ages! In 2022, the theme was trailblazers. Imperial worked alongside some of the great museums and institutes in the Albertopolis to deliver talks, workshops, performances and activities. And of course IMSE was there as well!

Joao Cabral and Liva Donina grinning in front of the poster for the marbling activity at the 2022 Great Exhibition Road Festival
Joao Cabral and Liva Donina at the 2022 Great Exhibition Road Festival

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